Film Fest Dispatch From Sundance 2020

In HIFF Programming news, last week HIFF Staffers Director of Programming Anna Page, and Gianni Minga, Director of Partnerships, attended the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, in search of hit films for the upcoming 2020 HIFF Spring Showcase and the 40th Annual Hawai‘i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani.

Page and Minga spent 5 film-filled days in snowy Park City, watching over 18 films in the short span. The team were excited by this year’s Sundance programming, and anticipate some 2020 Sundance premieres coming to a HIFF near you.

Highlights of the Festival were this year’s grand jury prize and audience award winner MINARI, a Korean American immigrant family drama starring Steven Yeun, and the documentary winner BOY’S STATE which follows the democratic process seen through the lens of a special government-building boys camp. Other highlights included the hard-hitting documentaries A THOUSAND CUTSby Filipino American filmmaker Ramona Diaz, and ASSASSINS following the infamous and shocking assassination of North Korea’s Kim Jong-Nam. HIFF alumnus Bao Nguyen’s definitive Bruce Lee documentary BE WATER, also world premiered in U.S. Documentary competition.

With many great films seen, there are a plethora of films to program for HIFF, but this is just the beginning of our film festival programming tour. With upcoming festivals such as SXSW, Cannes, and Toronto, HIFF’s programmers will be on the festival circuit to scour for the very best in cinema to bring back to our cinema-hungry audiences. We’ll have to wait to see what hits HIFF this year. Stay Tuned!